Pierce County Public Health Allows Mass Gathering Advisory Order to Expire, Continues to Urge Caution while Vaccinations are Scaled-Up
Pierce County Public Health (PCPH) has allowed their Mass Gathering Advisory Order, which limited public gatherings to 50% of capacity, to expire. However, PCPH continues to urge caution and will put the advisory back into place if the numbers start to increase.
Pierce County has experienced a promising downward trend in cases since a peak in mid-November. The week of February 20th, the county experienced the lowest number of cases since mid-September 2020. AZ Snyder, Health Officer/Public Health Director states, “We are pleased with our progress both in terms of
vaccination of older adults and in terms of the number of newly-identified cases each week. At this time, we are going to allow the capacity order to expire. We are trusting local facilities to continue to enforce social distancing between non-related parties. If our numbers start to head in the wrong direction in a sustained way
again, I will put this enforcement mechanism back into place.”
With the addition of the Janssen vaccine approved just last week, three brands of vaccines are currently available under emergency use authorization, but supply is limited. There is currently not enough vaccine to vaccinate eligible populations immediately. It will take many weeks before all residents age 65 and older in the
county, educators, specific essential workers, and those on congregate living settings are able to receive the vaccine.
It is important that Pierce County residents remain vigilant and continue to adhere to prevention measures while Pierce County Public Health and local healthcare organizations work diligently to vaccinate priority populations. “Masking, staying at home when sick or exposed, and avoided crowds is working. We need to keep it up to allow time to vaccinate residents,” said Snyder.
Information and data related to COVID-19 in Pierce County can be located by visiting: https://covidpiercecounty-wi.hub.arcgis.com/